Webinar
Archives
SELF-ADVOCACY: Making It Happen in College
and Beyond
Presented by Dr. Henry B. Reiff
Conducted September
17, 2008
 ABOUT
THE WEBINAR: Once you get out of high school,
it's often tempting to try to leave your disability behind.
But a disability in adulthood brings a special set of challenges
in postsecondary education, work and home, relationships,
and especially feelings about yourself. Fortunately, adults
with disabilities can significantly increase the likelihood
of career success and personal satisfaction. During this
Webinar, Henry B. Reiff, author of Self-Advocacy for
Students with Learning Disabilities: Making It Happen in
College
and
Beyond,
discusses how a combination of effective self-advocacy
and specific life
skills can make a huge difference for you. With a focus on
what adults with disabilities can do rather than what they
cannot do, Dr. Reiff shares inspiring stories from adults
with disabilities and practical tips on how to be successful.
WEBINAR
ARCHIVE. The archive
of the Webinar conducted September 17,
2008 is available here. The archive is 1 hr., 21
minutes in length. You can start, stop, pause, fast forward
or rewind the recording using the controls on the ReadyTalk
player. Note: Playing the archive requires FLASH
to be installed on your computer.
 ABOUT THE PRESENTER: Henry
B. Reiff, Ph.D., is the co-author of a number of books
about adults with learning disabilities,
including Exceeding Expectations: Successful Adults with
Learning Disabilities, which was named a top LD resource
by the American Library Association. He has published
more than forty articles and has given hundreds of presentations
around the country. Reiff is a 30 year educator, Dean
of
Student Academic Life at McDaniel College in Westminster,
MD, and a professor of special education. He was the
Maryland nominee for LDA Educator of the year in 2000.
In
the preceding months, Dr. Reiff has shared his thoughts
on self-advocacy at the Guidance Expo in White Plains,
NY
(October, 2007), the GILD in Baltimore, MD (November,2007),
Future Quest in Fairfax, VA (December, 2007), and the LDA
of Montgomery County in Rockville, MD (January, 2008).
Dr.
Reiff's new book, Self-Advocacy for Students with Learning
Disabilities: Making It Happen in College and Beyond, is
available for purchase from the publisher, Amazon.com and
Overstock.com.
Dr. Reiff can be contacted via email at hreiff@mcdaniel.edu.
Postsecondary
Educational Opportunities for
Students with Intellectual
Disabilities
Presented
by Stephanie Smith Lee and Heidi Graff
Conducted October
29, 2008
ABOUT
THE WEBINAR: Opportunities
for students with intellectual disabilities (ID)
to participate in higher education are rapidly expanding.
This special
2-part Webinar event takes a look at new provisions
in federal law designed to support these opportunities
as
well as a program at a Virginia university already
in operation for several years. The event features the
following:
PART I: Overview
of important new provisions in the recently enacted Higher Education Opportunity Act,
the latest update of the nation’s federal law pertaining to postsecondary education, pertaining to students with ID, presented by Stephanie Smith Lee, Senior Policy Advisor for the National Down Syndrome Society’s
Policy Center.
PART II: Overview of Virginia’s only university-based program for students with ID, George Mason University’s Learning into Future Environments (LIFE) program,
presented by Dr. Heidi Graff, director of the LIFE program.
WEBINAR
ARCHIVE. The archive
of the Webinar conducted October 29,
2008 is available here. The archive is 1 hr., 17
minutes in length. You can start, stop, pause, fast forward
or rewind the recording using the controls on the ReadyTalk
player. Note: Playing the archive requires FLASH
to be installed on your computer.
 ABOUT THE PRESENTERS: Stephanie
Smith Lee has over thirty-five years of experience in public
policy, including serving in senior Congressional staff
positions,
as a foundation administrator, and as a nationally recognized disability
parent leader. Since her daughter, Laura, was born with
Down syndrome in 1982, she has
organized and led many successful bipartisan, collaborative efforts
to improve special education and disability policy in
Virginia and at the national level.
As the Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
in the US Department of Education, from 2002 through March 2005, Ms.
Lee directed the policy
development, program planning, monitoring, evaluation, research and
implementation of the Federal special education law. In that capacity,
she focused the work
of OSEP on improved transition and postsecondary opportunities for
all students with disabilities, and on new opportunities for students
with intellectual disabilities,
among other initiatives.
Currently Ms. Lee is the Senior Policy Advisor for the National
Down Syndrome Society’s Policy Center. She provides policy analysis
and advice on a wide range of education and disability issues. For
the past three
years,
she has provided “hands on” technical assistance to parents, educators,
and institutions of higher education (IHEs) on how to develop and implement
high
quality inclusive
postsecondary programs and services for students with intellectual disabilities.
Through frequent speeches at national and state conferences she has provided
information on successful approaches to developing these innovative opportunities.
As Project Leader of the NDSS partnership project with the College Transition
Connection (CTC) and the Center for Disability Resources, the UCEDD in
South Carolina, she has worked with these partners to organize a successful
effort
to develop and fund postsecondary projects in that state. Currently,
three universities have been funded to develop model programs. As part
of this
systems change effort,
state agencies have agreed to provide funding for the project and some
funding for individual students.
Recently, at the request of Republican and Democratic staff in the
U.S. House and Senate, Ms. Lee and Madeleine Will, NDSS Policy Center
Director, coordinated
a group of experts who provided technical expertise regarding provisions
that have been included in the Higher Education Act reauthorization
related to students
with intellectual disabilities.
 Dr.
Heidi Graff obtained her doctoral degree in Education from George
Mason University in May of 2007 with a major in Special Education and
a minor in Instructional Technology. During her doctoral studies at
George Mason
University, she supported the Master’s degree Immersion Team of instructional
designers through the development of the KIHd System by working as a
facilitator in Phase
1. In
2006-2008 she served as a project coordinator for the KIHd System, Phase
II, U.S. Department of Education Steppingstones of Technology Grant (CFDA
84.327A,
Steppingstones of Technology, Innovations for Students with Disabilities/H327A060031).
KIHd System grant was implemented in a metropolitan school servicing
students on the autism Spectrum. Currently, she is a Co-PI on the U.S.
Department
of Education Steppingstones of Technology grant (CFDA 84.327A, Steppingstones
of Technology,
Innovations for Students with Disabilities/H327A080013) aimed to develop
the
software tool to create adapted and interactive video clips.
Since June 2007, Dr. Graff is the director of the Mason Learning into
Future Environments (LIFE) program designed to provide students with
intellectual and
developmental disabilities with transition/postsecondary educational
experiences in a supportive university environment. Under her tutelage
the Mason Life program
has grown to full capacity with 24 students who are from surrounding
areas such as Maryland, District of Columbia, and Loudoun as well as
Prince William counties.
Dr. Graff initiated a four-year academic curriculum, the Mason LIFE
internship program to deepen community ties with local employers, and
has expanded the residential
dorm program to include weekends. With a Lab school model, GMU graduate
students in special education teach the Mason LIFE students while gaining
practical experience
and meeting their internship or licensure requirements. Dr. Graff now
recruits GMU students from other disciplines to volunteer in the program.
She places a
heavy emphasis on conducting research to promote the continued investigation
of learning pedagogy for transition students with intellectual and
developmental disabilities. Additionally, the Mason LIFE students are
active in Special Olympics
and Best Buddies with Dr. Graff acting as Faculty Advisor.
Dr. Graff has extensive experience in single-subject research methodology
including teaching classes on the master’s and doctoral levels. Dr.
Graff is one of the leading instructors in the Autism Certificate program
at
GMU and teaches the
Characteristics of Autism class. Prior to her work at GMU, for almost
ten years, Dr. Graff administered and co-partnered a private practice
to assist
families
and children with disabilities. Besides being a parent of a teen with
autism, she has professional experience in advocating for students
with disabilities.
Her goals include expanding the research line in the area of secondary
and postsecondary education for student with intellectual and developmental
disabilities as well
as setting national standards for transition programs.
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